South Korea faces a number of security challenges, living in the shadow of states such as China and Russia, and with its capital Seoul around 50km from the border it shares with North Korea. In times of contestation and with a new government in place it has the chance to reexamine its priorities and contribution to security in the Asia Pacific. Guest: Dongkeun Lee (Policy Fellow, Asia-Pacific Leadership Network) Recorded on 27th April, 2025.
Jun 27, 2025•21 min
The Australian government has released a new roadmap aiming to bolster critical minerals co-operation between Australia and India. Crucial to the economy and productivity, the mineral trade, the plan aims to drive research and trade in both countries, but can the plan also address resource security and climate concerns? Guests: Ambika Vishwanath (DFAT Maitri Principal Research Fellow, La Trobe Asia) Titiksha Vashist (Co-founder and Lead Researcher, Pranava Institute) Recorded 16th April, 2025...
Jun 16, 2025•31 min
High in the Himalayas the waters of Asia’s eight largest rivers intersect. The rivers of the Asian Highlands are central to the world’s weather systems and activities in their water catchments have shaped the human past and will shape the future. These rivers support more than three billion people and provide water for 85% of Asia’s populations, and what happens to Asian highland rivers is of global significance. Today human activities are contributing to rising temperatures, which leads to glac...
Jun 03, 2025•59 min
The Asia-Pacific is an area of great power contestation, of an intense rivalry between major powers, particularly the United States and China. How influence and dominance intersect in the Asia Pacific has major implications for the politics, economies and militaries of the countries in the region. Guest: Mike Bosack (Special Adviser for Government Relations,Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies) Recorded 29th April, 2025.
May 23, 2025•31 min
Australia's federal election has produced a significant majority for PM Anthony Albanese. While most of the campaign was dominated by domestic issues, the shadow cast by the Trump administration's highly destabilising policies was long. The re-elected government faces the most complex international environment in decades with the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, an America led by a mercurial President who appears intent on wrecking the liberal international order and an ambitious and confident ...
May 14, 2025•1 hr 1 min
The past six months in South Korea have been eventful - a declaration of martial law, the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, but the country continues and now there is an election on the 3rd June. The election is heated, and there are still protests on the streets of Seoul. How the votes could go, what is on the agenda, and how this will affect the world are all topics of debate. Guest: Dr Duyeon Kim (Adjunct Senior Fellow, Indo-Pacific Security Program, Centre for New American Security) Re...
May 06, 2025•29 min
It is two weeks until an Australian federal election in which the presiding Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, will meet the challenger Peter Dutton in a campaign that has been dominated by domestic issues, but overshadowed by Trump. Guests: Professor Bec Strating (Director, La Trobe Asia) Professor Andrea Carson (Journalism, La Trobe University) Recorded on 16th April, 2025.
Apr 17, 2025•25 min
Late last year the Chinese government announced it had approved the world’s largest and most expensive, hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in the Eastern Himalaya, near its disputed border with India. The project would generate around 60 gigawatts annually, nearly three times the capacity of the Three Gorges Dam, and help them meet their energy transition goals. What they actually intend to build and the impact it could have on the surrounding landscape and the people who call it ho...
Apr 03, 2025•26 min
As President Donald Trump leads his second term, relationships between the US and Asian countries continue to evolve under his administration’s policies. While there has been much focus on Europe's reactions to a more transactional leadership style in the US, less has been discussed about how it will affect trade negotiations, military alliances, and geopolitical tensions in Asia. The United States, once a reliable ally to many, now represents a wild card, and how Trump views Asian nations inclu...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 3 min
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on March 11, 2025, by the Philippine National Police and Interpol, acting on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The warrant charges Duterte with crimes against humanity related to his administration's controversial "war on drugs," which resulted in thousands of deaths. Guest: Associate Professor Kerstin Steiner (La Trobe Law School, La Trobe University) Recorded on 18 March, 2025.
Mar 19, 2025•31 min
Australian headlines in late February were dominated by the activities of the Chinese navy’s Task Group 107 as it progressed south along the Australian coast and conducted a series of live-fire exercises. To the media and a segment of politicians this is a big deal, and at the very least it signals a message that China is trying to send to Australia. Guest: Professor Bec Strating (Director, La Trobe Asia) Recorded on 3rd March, 2025.
Mar 04, 2025•24 min
The global south is struggling with extreme weather patterns and how to respond, with the Philippines being no exception. Since the devastation of the 2013 Haiyan typhoon, more than 15 thousand households have been relocated from the coast to Tacloban North, and this climate gentrfication has caused inequalities amongst the residents. Guests: Associate Professor Brooke Wilmsen (Social Enquiry, La Trobe University) Dr Justin See (Development Studies, University of Melbourne) Recorded on 21st Febr...
Feb 28, 2025•26 min
For years China has claimed historical rights in the South China Sea, enforcing this by establishing the expansive ‘nine-dash line’ encompassing around 90% of the sea and challenging the maritime claims of neighbouring states in Southeast Asia. The Philippines in particular has contested China’s claims, concerned about the implications for national security, sovereignty, sovereign rights, and maritime jurisdiction. What can the Philippines and other nations in do to support the maritime rules-ba...
Feb 24, 2025•58 min
In his first month as the newly sworn in President of the United States Donald Trump signed a raft of executive orders, one of which was the near total freeze of all foreign aid, and the drastic reduction of the United States Agency for International Development. This move will have lasting repurcussions for the welfare of many of the world's poorest populations, not to mention the international reputation of the United States. Guest: Associate Professor Lisa Denney (Director, Centre for Human S...
Feb 18, 2025•21 min
Great power rivalry is now an entrenched feature of Asia's security environment. While the United States' role in Asia looks increasingly uncertain under the new Trump administration, China has long sought its security by building dominant relationships with smaller powers in its neighbourhood. While Australia focuses keenly on the activities of the US and China in East Asia and the Pacific, far less is understood about the contests for power playing out in Central Asia and its implications for ...
Feb 13, 2025•1 hr 34 min
Unrest in South Korea is developing quickly. In December President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a short lived martial law. He has since been impeached, removed from office and arrested after weeks of evading arrest, potentially to face charges of insurrection. The political turmoil has shaken South Korea, where Yoon Suk-yeol has popular support. What were the events that led to this political juncture? What could it mean for South Korea and a potential election? Could the unrest have implications for ...
Feb 04, 2025•50 min
It’s been four years since the Myanmar government was overthrown in a military coup, with the promise of a swift election never eventuating. Since that time the public sentiment has soured and resistance has grown, and a long civil war is being fought within its borders. Guest: Hunter Marston (PhD candidate, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National University and an Adjunct Research Fellow at La Trobe Asia) Recorded on Friday 24th January, 2025.
Jan 29, 2025•22 min
Its been more than 70 years since China annexed Tibet, and in that time there has been a noticeable decrease in political representation. There has been an increasing centralisation of power by Han Chinese officials, undercutting Tibetan representation in key political and administrative roles, and it’s a trend that has only accelerated under the leadership of Xi Jinping. Guests: Professor James Leibold (Politics at La Trobe University) Dr Devendra Kumar (Associate Fellow, Centre of Excellence f...
Jan 15, 2025•28 min
Many countries struggle with gender inequality, but in Japan the problem is pronounced. The gender pay gap is at 22%, and women face a number of related issues, including precarious and subordinate positions in the labour market, and the sexual exploitation in the entertainment industry. Voices from the Contemporary Japanese Feminist Movement by Emma Dalton and Caroline Norma (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) Guest: Dr Caroline Norma (Senior Lecturer, Interpreting and Translating, RMIT) Host: Dr Emma D...
Dec 11, 2024•25 min
Tibet and the Tibetan Plateau are well-known as the home of an important religious and philosophical tradition, Tibetan Buddhism. However, we tend to pay less attention to the lived experiences and llfeways of the Indigenous peoples who live with this singular environment and their achievements and challenges. So how does the state education address Indigenous knowledge and that which the people get from the land itself? Guest: Dr Tashi Dekyid Monet (School of Education and Human Development, Un...
Nov 29, 2024•23 min
There are dozens of minority languages spoken in Tibet, but that number is currently collapsing under assimilatory state policies. An increasing number of families in these communities are now passing on Tibetan or Chinese, in the hope of accessing better opportunities in education and employment. What are the systems at work that restrict and devalue minority languages in Tibet? How can global advocacy networks acknowledge the issue, and what radical changes are needed to address this crisis? T...
Nov 21, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Donald Trump has won the 2024 Unites States election. So what will his return to the White House mean for the Asian region? Guest: Professor Bec Strating (Director, La Trobe Asia) Recorded on 11th November, 2024.
Nov 13, 2024•35 min
What does "Indigeneity" mean in Asia? For many in these communities, an Indigenous identity can represent a way to strengthen community identities, encourage language and cultural flourishing, highlight their ancestral relationships to land and water, and push back against large states’ attempts to minoritise them. What are the benefits and challenges of using the term in Asia? What does the grassroots enthusiasm for the term “Indigenous” and top-down restraints on its use mean for our understan...
Nov 12, 2024•56 min
After more than 70 years of Chinese rule, much has changed in Tibet, and one notable decline is that of language diversity. There are currently around sixty minority languages spoken in Tibet, in some cases by just a few thousand people, but that number is collapsing under assimilatory state policies. Book: The Politics of Language Oppression in Tibet by Gerald Roche, published by Cornell University Press. Guest: Assoc. Professor Gerald Roche (Politics, La Trobe University) Recorded on 17th Octo...
Oct 29, 2024•35 min
The Ganges River, a lifeline for millions and one of the most significant and sacred rivers in the world, faces a multitude of seemingly intractable environmental challenges. One of the most innovative ways of both researching and shifting attitudes on the Ganges is through Citizen Science, bringing scientists and communities together to learn more about the world around them. Guests: Dr Prem Kurup (Science Education, La Trobe University) Anjali Yadav (PhD Candidate, La Trobe University and IIT ...
Oct 21, 2024•29 min
For centuries the western world has enjoyed an outsized global influence, but is that time coming to an end? In demographic, economic, military and cultural terms, we are hurtling into a far more diverse global future. Guest: Dr Samir Putri (Former UK diplomat, visiting lecturer at the Department of War Studies at the Kings College London) Samir's book: Westlessness: The Great Global Rebalancing Recorded 10th September, 2024.
Sep 24, 2024•27 min
Large numbers of people in Southeast Asia seek opportunities to improve their lives either within or outside their home country. While there are many positive benefits, the risk of exploitation is high. Many find themselves deceived or coerced into situations where they are abused and forced to live and work in poor conditions with little or no pay. Some are forced into sex work or marriages against their will, while others fall prey to the illicit organ trade. How can we better understand what ...
Sep 19, 2024•53 min
The West has always had an outsized influence in the world, but what if this trend is changing? The post cold-war era U.S. and European countries, which represent the foundational pillars of the Western system, have seen their power diminish. Shifts in demographics, economics, military, and cultural terms are indicating a more diverse global future. Wealth is moving from the West to the East, and nations such as India and Indonesia are set to reach new heights of growth and confidence. Is the We...
Sep 13, 2024•1 hr 3 min
In recent years Australia has drawn closer to many of its Asia-Pacific neighbours, but when push comes to shove, it continues to look well beyond the oceans and regions that surround it to the distant horizons of Europe and North America for its ultimate security guarantee'. But is there another way Australia should understand its strategic challenges and find lasting security? Girt by Sea: Re-Imagining Australia's Security by Rebecca Strating and Joanne Wallis is published by La Trobe Universit...
Aug 22, 2024•21 min
The catastrophic attacks of 9/11 led to successful US-led military effort to overthrow the Taliban regime and dismantle al-Qaeda’s terrorism training camps in Afghanistan. Britain took the lead in creating the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to stabilise the country and support the new government. Why did the ISAF mission fail, and what are the wider lessons from the Afghanistan war for security in the Asia-Pacific. Guest: Professor Theo Farrell (Vice-Chancellor, La Trobe Universi...
Aug 12, 2024•38 min
